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Alliance News Digest

Information

Week of 8 January 2010

AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST

• Lack of Rural Doctors Hits Aids Pledge - Business Day, SA. (12/22)
  Too few community service doctors have been assigned to rural hospitals next year
  
  

• Fast solution needed to check shortage of nurses (Editorial) - Daily News, Tanzania. (1/3)
  Nurses have a key role to play in the health sector and in fact their services are indispensable.
  
  

• NMA Advocates Better Emergency Health Services - Daily Independent, Nigeria. (1/3)
  Lack of good communication network and technical know-how of staff are some of major challenges of emergency health care delivery in Nigeria.
  
  

• NGO injects Sh144m into Mbulu projects - The Citizen, Tanzania. (1/5)
  The shortage of nurses was a national problem
  

• Government aims at uprooting VDC corruption - Daily News, Botswana. (12/29)
  At Kweneng South hospsital there is a serious shortage of doctors and nurses
  

• Future looks bright for health sector - The Citizen, Tanzania. (1/7)
  The new approach to local health planning and delivery as well as evidence-based interventions has improved health services.
  
  

ASIA AND PACIFIC

• CAG faults implementation of maternity benefit scheme - The Hindu, India (12/27)
  CAG points out that a majority of the registered pregnant women did not use the health centres for deliveries.
  

• Behind-the scenes bringers of good health - Kuensel Online, Bhutan. (12/30)
  Health workers are the link between the health services and the community.
  

• Patience in waiting for US immigration reform - Philippine Daily Inquirer. (1/4)
  There is a surge in employment of local nurses in the US as visas for foreign RNs and other health care workers are no longer readily available
  

• NEPAL TO FACE CRITICAL SHORTAGE OF DOCTORS - Brunei FM World. (12/21)
  Nepal is likely to face a critical shortage of doctors due to medical brain-drain out of the country
  

• Volunteerism needed in health careBusiness World, Philippines. (1/4)
  Government hospitals do not provide adequate medical care.
  

• Afghanistan: Where Birth Equals Death - Islam Online. (12/30)
  Medical officials estimate that 80 percent of women give birth at home, and are attended to by traditional and untrained birth attendants
  

• St. John may share in rural health care - Waikato Times, N. Zealand. (1/4)
  Shortage of experienced health professionals in rural areas could result in a greater reliance on rural paramedics
  

• Des Gorman: Reform overdue for the birthright of healthcare - N. Zealand Herald. (12/31).
  Clinical leadership and innovation are key to an improved health service, says Des Gorman.
  
  

• A child is born - Brisbane Times, Australia. (1/1)
  47% of 786 mothers who gave birth in the public system during the past five years said there was a shortage of midwives
  
  

NORTH AMERICA

• Nursing Shortage of Tomorrow Creates Surplus Today - Associated Content News. (12/26)
  The Predicted Nursing Shortage Has Left Many Licensed Nurses Unemployed Today
  

• Global Health Delivery 2.0: Using Open-Access Technologies for Transparency and Operations Research - PLoS Medicine. (12/1)
  The growing field of global health delivery is in need of technological strategies to improve transparency and operations research
  

• Focus Returns to Nurse Retention in 2010- Health Leaders Media. (12/29)
  The recession and high unemployment caused a drop in RN vacancy rates nationwide
  

• Five Questions -- Carolynn Ingerson Hoffman, president and CEO of MediNurse - St. Louis Post-Dispatch. (1/1)
  Now we're looking at a national shortage of nurses unlike all others.
  

• Paving Pathways: shaping the Public Health workforce through tertiary education - 7th Space Interactive. (1/4)
  Public health educational pathways in Australia have traditionally been the province of Universities
  

• Iranian doctors share health care plan in Delta – Jackson Clarion-Ledger, MS. (1/3)
  "Health houses" prove to be beneficial in rural areas
  

• Pioneering L.A. nonprofit is saving lives in Afghanistan - Los Angeles Times. (1/5)
  The International Medical Corps trains local health workers as it builds the basics of sustainable care.
  

• Zig-Zag: Danish Guide Takes us to India to Meet Nurses from Ghana - ADVANCE. (1/4)
  What happens when you take a group of nurses from Africa, give them new understanding of international health from a university in Europe, and send them for 5 weeks to Indian villages?
  

• Ritter, health groups back bill to address crisis in rural care - Colorado Independent. (12/30)
  Colorado is short hundreds of medical professionals, according to federal guidelines
  

• Foreign aid in reverse? - Toronto Star. (1/3)
  Canadians are among the worst offenders at luring medical professionals away from some of the poorest countries, where they are desperately needed.
  
  

EUROPE

• ART in rural Uganda—efficient scale-up with home-based care? - The Lancet, UK. (12/19)
  The Jinja trial team present a cluster community-randomised trial in which they compared the clinical outcomes and cost of two alternative strategies….
  

• Networks in mHealth initiatives - Mobile News, UK. (12/17)
  Vodafone and Orange outline plans for the healthcare sector with announcement of new initiatives
  

• Union criticises new £35m rehab scheme - The Star, UK. (12/30)
  A UNION representing specialist healthcare workers in Sheffield has expressed concern about the implications of a new £35 million rehabilitation scheme
  

• Health links have goals that extend beyond healthcare - Wales Online, UK. (1/4)
  NURSES, doctors and other health professionals have a long tradition of working with the poor and needy, particularly in developing countries
  

• A Liverpool hospital’s volunteer programme is to be rolled out across the country - Liverpool Daily Post, UK. (12/29)
  It is now being used as a national example of how to encourage Britain’s future health workforce.
  

• Partners in Health encourages better payment and training of community healthcare workers, reform of “clinical hierarchy” - AidsMap News, UK. (1/7)
  Healthcare workers can play an effective role in delivering testing, treatment and care to under-resourced communities
  

• Is this the future for Britain’s health service? - The Times, UK. (1/6)
  Our hospitals are set up to fight the diseases of 50 years ago. The Third World offers valuable lessons on how to change.
  

• Hospitals urged to review how far key emergency staff live from work – BMJ, UK. (12/31)
  The National Patient Safety Agency has urged hospitals to look at how long it takes on-call staff to respond to emergencies
  

• Mais clínicos entrangeiros para centros de saúde - DNPortugal. (1/2)
  Ministério quer contratar "algumas dezenas" para Lisboa e Porto.
  

• Médicos: Estão a receber incentivos para se fixarem em zonas onde há carências - Voz da Planície, Portugal. (1/5)
  O Ministério da Saúde está a atribuir bolsas, no valor de 750 euros, no regime de internato médico, para atrair jovens clínicos
  
  

LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN

• Con pobre presupuesto Salud deberá reducir altos indicadores mortalidad - Hoy Digital, Dominican Republic. (12/27)
  Para el sistema de salud, los recursos humanos son fundamentales, pero se hace necesario formarlos bien e invertir en ellos
  

• Faltan médicos en Navojoa - El Imparcial, Mexico. (12/31)
  Faltan enfermeras y médicos en las diversas especialidades que ofrece el Hospital General de Navojoa
  

• El índice de muerte materna sigue siendo alto en países pobres Cimac Noticias, Mexico (12/30)
  Alerta OMS a generar programas de maternidad segura
  

• PARAGUAY: Nurses Seeking Greener Pastures in Italy - Inter Press Service. (1/7)
  Obiettivo Lavoro, the European country’s largest human resources management group, came to Paraguay seeking to hire health workers.
  

• En el hospital "falta de todo" - Bariloche2000, Argentina. (12/30)
  En el hospital falta recursos humanos, desde profesionales hasta choferes
  

• Demissão agrava desfalque - O Diário Maringa, Brazil. (1/5)
  A carência do profissional se arrasta há três anos, em outras, há seis meses.
  

• Afirman que faltan especialistas - El Espectador, Uruguay. (1/6)
  Los médicos de la Emergencia del Clínicas denunciaron falta de especialistas y enfermeras.
  

• Existe déficit de enfermeras en sector salud: Líder sindical - Crónica Baja California, Mexico (1/5)
  .Existen alrededor de 80 puestos de enfermeras sin ocupar
  
  

News from WHO and partners

• Community health workers - the first response in emergencies - WHO - Photo Story. (January 2010)
  In times of crisis, those who provide the initial lifesaving care are health workers from the very communities affected.
  

• Village Health Educators in Thailand Help Prevent Minority Mothers' Deaths - UNFPA. (12/30)
  Department of Health and UNFPA began training village health workers to educate their neighbours on maternal and child health
  

• Gaza: One year on – Merlin, UK. (1/5)
  Community nurses have played a key role in empowering older people suffering from chronic diseases to lead healthier lives
  

• From staff-mix to skill-mix and beyond: towards a systemic approach to health workforce management - HRH Journal. (12/19)
  Throughout the world, countries are experiencing shortages of health care workers